Two prisoners who
died while being held for interrogation at the US military base in
Afghanistan had apparently been beaten, according to a military
pathologist's report. A criminal investigation is now under way into the
deaths which have both been classified as homicides.

The deaths have led to calls for an inquiry into what interrogation
techniques are being used at the base where it is believed the al-Qaida
leader, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, is now also being held. Former prisoners
at the base claim that detainees are chained to the ceiling, shackled so
tightly that the blood flow stops, kept naked and hooded and kicked to
keep them awake for days on end.

The two men, both Afghans, died last December at the US forces base in
Bagram, north of Kabul, where prisoners have been held for questioning.
The autopsies found they had suffered "blunt force injuries" and
classified both deaths as homicides.

A spokesman for the Pentagon said yesterday it was not possible to
discuss the details of the case because of the proceeding investigation.
If the investigation finds that the prisoners had been unlawfully killed
during interrogation, it could lead to both civil and military
prosecutions. He added that it was not clear whether only US personnel had
had access to the men.

One of the dead prisoners, known only as Dilawar, died as a result of
"blunt force injuries to lower extremities complicating coronary artery
disease", according to the death certificate signed by Major Elizabeth
Rouse, a pathologist with the Washington-based Armed Forces Institute of
Pathology, which operates under the auspices of the defence department.
The dead man was aged 22 and was a farmer and part-time taxi-driver. He
was said to have had an advanced heart condition and blocked arteries.

Chris Kelly, a spokesman for the institute, said yesterday that their
pathologists were involved in all cases on military bases where there were
unusual or suspicious deaths. He was not aware of any other homicides of
prisoners held since September 11. He said that the definition of homicide
was "death resulting from the intentional or grossly reckless behaviour of
another person or persons" but could also encompass "self-defence or
justifiable killings".

The death certificates for the men have four boxes on them giving
choices of "natural, accident, suicide, homicide". The Pentagon said
yesterday that the choice of "homicide" did not necessarily mean that the
dead person had been unlawfully killed. There was no box which would
indicate that a pathologist was uncertain how a person had died.

It is believed that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, described as the number
three in al-Qaida, is being interrogated at Bagram. He is said to have
started providing information about the possible whereabouts of Osama bin
Laden whom he is said to have met in Pakistan last month. Most al-Qaida
suspects are being held outside the US which means that they are not
entitled to access to the US judicial system.

Two former prisoners at the base, Abdul Jabar and Hakkim Shah, told the
New York Times this week that they recalled seeing Dilawar at Bagram. They
said that they had been kept naked, hooded and shackled and were deprived
of sleep for days on end. Mr Shah said that American guards kicked him to
stop him falling asleep and that on one occasion he had been kicked by a
woman interrogator, while her male colleague held him in a kneeling
position.

The commander of the coalition forces in Afghanistan, General Daniel
McNeill, said that prisoners were made to stand for long periods but he
denied that they were chained to the ceiling. "Our interrogation
techniques are adapted," he said.

"They are in accordance with what is generally accepted as
interrogation techniques, and if incidental to the due course of this
investigation, we find things that need to be changed, we will certainly
change them."

In January, in his state of the union address, President George Bush
announced that "3,000 suspected terrorists have been arrested in many
countries" and "many others have met a different fate" and "are no longer
a problem to the United States".

The other death being investigated is that of Mullah Habibullah, the
brother of a former Taliban commander. His death certificate indicates
that he died of a pulmonary embolism, or a blood clot in the lung.